The present invention relates, in general, to a flat pallet as carrier for handling and storage of articles.
Nothing in the following discussion of the state of the art is to be construed as an admission of prior art.
Various storage concepts are used to store unit loads, hereinafter referred to as articles. For example, articles are shipped on throw-away pallets or other packaging materials and transferred onto flat pallets. The loaded flat pallets are then transported via conveyors to a storage site and placed there. When being shipped, the articles on the flat pallets are transferred to a transfer station where the articles are removed by hand from the flat pallet. Manual loading or unloading of pallets is a strenuous exercise and labor-intensive, in particular when Industrial pallets are involved which have dimensions of about 1 m×1.2 m, because the articles must be lifted or deposited from or onto the pallet across a distance of up to more than a meter. This is unacceptable for personnel, especially when the articles are large and heavy.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to provide an improved flat pallet to address these problems and to obviate other prior art shortcomings.